The leader in the clubhouse was Phil Mickelson. The story of the day was 3,000 miles away. Mickelson shot an eight-under-par 63 at Rivieras Northern Trust Open on Thursday. Tiger Woods,at home in Florida,typed on his website. Hes back. Eat your heart out,Michael Jordan. Your return was huge. His is gigantic. Less than an hour after Mickelson turned Riviera into Rancho Park from the red tees,the buzz began. Tiger,out since last June 16 when he won in a playoff on the 91st hole of the US Open at Torrey Pines and limped off to have reconstructive knee surgery,would return to play in an event next week near Tucson. Thats the Accenture Match Play,which was won last year by. You guessed it. A man named Eldrick. This could be the biggest thing to hit Arizona since the taco. Neither the return of Jordan,nor that of Woods,needed verbal flamboyancy. Jordan used two words: Im back. Woods prattled on for six: Im now ready to play again. Long wait It is difficult to articulate how huge Woods is. The media doesnt just report. It drools. The Golf Channel,which has rights to portions of the telecast of the Accenture,delivered the news with glee. It almost giggled. This is the comeback the world has been waiting for, intoned one expert who was interviewed. Former star Lee Trevino analysed for viewers what a solidly repaired knee might mean for Tigers game,concluding that,if it is sound,The rest of you guys out there are in more trouble. A sports psychologist discussed the news in predictable psychobabble and there was medical conjecture that put Tigers health at 95 per cent when he came back. For hours,we saw shots of Tiger swinging,Tiger fist-pumping,Tiger limping. It was All Tiger,All the time. And it will be,for the foreseeable future. There is no denying that Woods has gone beyond superstar status into a heretofore unvisited strata. Certainly in golf. Maybe in sports in general. His US Open heroics truly were. A terrible knee,two fractures in the same leg,a rough so deep at Torrey Pines that they are still looking for two short spectators who walked in and were never seen again,and none of it stopping Tiger. He conquered all,to deserved rave reviews and received elevated respect in the world of sports. Then,if anything,it grew. Absence makes the heart grow fonder,especially for sports fans. It has been eight months. The media had temporarily stored its gushing and,once unleashed,as it was Thursday,there will be no turning back.
